Money transfer and similar arrangements are used by many consumers in lieu of bank accounts to send money, make payments, and conduct similar transactions. Rather than money being held in a traditional banking account, a customer provides cash to a money transfer company, such as a non-bank financial institution (NBFI) providing money transfers, where it may be transferred (immediately after payment or later in time) to another person. The money paid to the money transfer company is not held in a federally insured or regulated account of the customer, but rather is merely held by the transfer company under a documented financial obligation to pay the money to a person designated by the customer. Often, the money transfer company has very effective systems for providing cross-border money transfers.
Present money transfer procedures typically involve a customer going to a money transfer location, such as an agent office of the money transfer company, and giving the customer service representative (CSR) a variety of personal and recipient information. Alternatively, a transaction may be staged by contacting a CSR by telephone to provide personal and recipient information, with a visit to an agent office for fulfilling the staged transaction with a payment. The personal and recipient information a sender provides may include the names and addresses of the sender (customer) and recipient, proof of sender identification, and the amount to be transferred. This information is entered into a money transfer system, and, after the money to be transferred has been collected from the sender, is used to create a send transaction record for the money transfer. The send transaction is now ready for the receive phase, so the sender notifies the recipient of the transfer. The recipient usually then goes to a separate money transfer agent location, such as another location of the money transfer company or agent thereof, to pick up the money transferred. The recipient may be required to provide a money transfer number and/or proof of identification at the receive location, prior to picking up the money.
Present money transfer systems, however, are typically not thought of by the customer as anything more than a financial vehicle for transferring money. That is, when a customer uses a money transfer system, he/she typically thinks only of the purpose to transfer money from himself/herself to another individual that needs money or to an individual or business to which the customer owes money. This limited view of money transfer systems may be due in part to the agent office or service counter context at which money transfer systems are presented to and interact with the customer, and the lack of money transfer purchasing capabilities in traditional retail purchase contexts.